Too Much Trouble
by TheNamesNotImportant
Summary: The E-class shape shifters are starting to gain their first shift forms, which means some of them will be trying out these forms to find out secrets and trouble. Shape Shifter au. *Slow rewrite in progress*
1. Introduction

**This is just a random storyline I choose while half asleep. We'll just see what becomes of it, I guess.**

It was 05:00 when he woke up unexpectedly. He had another hour before he was actually supposed to get up and prepare for school. But something had started to poke and prod his chest. Cracking open a sleepy eye, he noted that it was an annoying and arrogant red brown colored cat. "Get off of me, Karma. Just because I have to babysit you until you're back to you're human form doesn't mean you're allowed to use me as you're personal servant and pillow."

Yes, Karma Akabane, one of Kunugigaoka Junior High School's top E-class students and shape shifters, had gotten stuck in his cat form and was being watched over by Nagisa Shiota. In other words, Karma had screwed up and now had to be babysat by one of his fellow classmates until he was human again.

When shape shifters gain their first form they can shift into, generally at the age of 16, it's extremely easy for them to get stuck in that form if they use it too much within the first week of gaining it. When they get stuck, they shift back to a human naturally about three days later. As shifters get older they gain more forms, but don't get stuck quite so easily.

And wouldn't you know it, the first shifter to get stuck in the E-class happened to be Karma, right at the beginning of his family's reunion, which meant he had no one at his home to take care of him while he was stuck. Thus, his classmates got to decide who would take care of him. As it turns out, most of the class wouldn't be able to, and out of those who could, Nagisa was chosen.

"Remember, you still have to go to school as well." For that comment, Nagisa got a hiss and claws poking him. "Ow! Hey, I'm not the one who makes the rules."

The cat curled up on his chest and showed no intention of moving. Nagisa sighed before attempting to go back to sleep. Unfortunately for him, his attempts failed.

 **That's the introduction done. I plan to explain more about shape shifters as the story progresses, but that's about all I've planed out, aside from the pairings, of course.**


	2. Update

I know I'm not supposed to just write an author's note, so there will be a short new introduction. I don't know if I'll come back to this story, but if I do, there will be a complete rewrite. I'd need to plan out and write an outline for it so it would take awhile. Sorry.

"Really, Karma?" I stared at the Auburn cat with gold eyes. "You just had to be a dumb cat and get yourself stuck. " I looked at the plates he had knocked off the counter within three minutes of being in my house. I had to put up with this for how long, again? "One week," I sighed, "I have to put up with your troublemaking for a whole week. Why didn't I let Sensei take care of you?" I looked at Karma's now feline face. Luckily the plates are plastic.


	3. Old

**Thank you for the nice reviews! I have a bit more of an idea as to where this story is going now, but I'm still unsure how it will end. For now, I'll focus on where I'm at.**

Chapter 1

Nagisa

When I accepted my fate of not gaining anymore sleep that morning, the clock on my nightstand read 05:47. I figured I might as well get out of bed and make breakfast. Much to Karma's chagrin, I pushed him off of me and onto the floor. If looks could kill, I'd have fallen dead right as I stood up. Karma wandered to the still closed door and waited. Looking at him in his cat form, it was easy to think he was just another pet cat with nothing special about him. He had a natural, solid russet brown coat and gold eyes, just like most cats. He was even the same size. It was in the way he acted you could see the human and realize he was a shapeshifter. Even that could be excused as a regular cat. I stretched my tired muscles before opening the door to the hallway. I prepared toast and bacon for breakfast. Mom had already left for the day, leaving a note that she had to work early today.

After finishing my breakfast, I took a quick shower and got dressed. By the time I was ready to leave it was 06:30. Karma was sitting by the front door, twitching his tail impatiently. It was the first full day that I would have to watch Karma, so I wasn't quite sure if I could trust him to actually follow me closely and not skip class. Once a shapeshifter turns 16, they are constantly accompanied by someone else to report when they gain their first form. At some point, after a shapeshifter turns 16, they seemingly pass out and reawaken as a different creature. They generally slip out of this form after a minute or two, unless they force it to stay. In which case they tend to get stuck for a few days. If a guardian can't be around to watch over them, then they stay with a friend. It's better if the friend is older, younger, or not a shapeshifter so that they don't both accidently get stuck in their first form. That would be dangerous.

When Karma's parents had shown up yesterday at school with a cat in their arms, claiming that Karma had gotten stuck and they wouldn't be around to watch him, most of the class had smothered their grins and laughter, including me. For that, Koro-sensei had scolded us and asked who would watch over him. When he got no response, he asked who was capable of watching over him. Less than half the class had raised their hand. Koro-sensei had told those who could to chose who would. Seeing as everyone knew that Karma and I were friends, they chose me. Now I was stuck with him.

"Sorry, but I don't trust you not to skip class." I said as I picked him up and opened the door. Karma tried to fight for about the first minute until he realised it was better than having to walk all the way up the mountain as a cat.

When we arrived at the school, several students were already there. Okuda noticed us and walked over quickly.

"Hi Karma, Nagisa. How has Karma been acting, Nagisa?" She said as I set Karma on his desk and made my way to my own desk. Okuda was always good with science and was extremely curious about each shapeshifter's experiences, so it came as no surprise that she wanted to know how Karma is, considering he is the first in the class to gain his first form.

"Just like he does as a human, but in a cat form." I replied

"So, no unusual behavior or strange occurrences?" Strange occurrences? What does she mean?

"Not that I know of."

"That's good to hear. Hey Nagisa…" She paused.

"Yeah?"

"Nevermind. Just keep an eye on him." After that, she returned to her seat. It bothered me that she hadn't explained whatever she was thinking, but Koro-sensei entered the classroom. Koro-sensei is a weird octopus creature that decided to be the E-class teacher for this year. He didn't give us a name when we asked for his, so we gave him one based upon how he was near impossible to capture or injure. With him came two government employees, Karasuma and Irina, who gave no explanation for their reason to be there aside from needing to keep an eye on Koro-sensei. The E-class was told to not tell the main campus of Koro-sensei. That wasn't explained either.

The class consensus was that Koro-sensei was a modern mythic shapeshifter who had somehow become stuck in his mythic form. A mythic form is a form few shapeshifters can achieve. It is a form that is not a living creature on Earth and is instead a one of a kind creature. This is often the modern explanation for old greek myths and such. Only a small percentage of shapeshifters can obtain a mythic form. However, when one mythic is found, there is generally several other mythic shapeshifters found nearby. It is thought that mythics were more common back when there were more shapeshifters. Back before the 15th century, regular humans were actually a bit rare. Now, of the human and shapeshifter population, only about 35% are shapeshifters. Only 0.00001% of that 35% were mythics.

The school day proceeded as usual, just with one of its students a cat. Considering that Karma is known to skip class all the time, it felt as though that was all that had happened.

At the end of school I grabbed Karma again and began to head home. Before I left the mountain though, Okuda stopped me.

"Can we talk for a second?"

I didn't have anything I needed to do immediately and Okuda probably wanted to talk further about how Karma was acting, so I didn't see a problem talking for a while. I looked down at Karma to see what he thought. He looked up at me, twitched his ears, and squinted at me before resting his head against my arm. I could only interpret that as a, 'What can I do to stop you?'

"Sure, I don't see why not." I finally responded.

 **I wonder what Okuda has to say? Seriously, I'm not quite sure. Sorry for the lack of interaction in this chapter, but I tend to write stories that have a ton of exposition for a few lines of dialogue at the beginning.**

 **P.S. I do the thing below to keep track of when I make things and roughly how long they are. I've written a lot of unpublished stories.**

 _Published: 19 Aug. 2017_

 _Word Count: 1000+_

May be missing edits.

Chapter 2

Karma

Humiliating. That's what I thought about Nagisa carrying me around everywhere. I can take care of myself. Which begs the question, why do I let him do it then? The explanation I'll give is that Nagisa is my friend, so I have nothing to fear from him carrying me somewhere. The truthful explanation is not something I'm willing to admit. Even to myself.

As Okuda and Nagisa walked, I listened to their conversation.

"Are you alone with Karma at your home?" It was Okuda who began.

"No, no! My mom is there as well." Nagisa responded, just a little too quickly.

"All the time?" She questioned.

"Almost all the time."

"And how often is she not there?"

"An hour at most when I return from school." Nagisa was clearly backed into a corner by Okuda at this point. It was obvious she was questioning if someone was there to report if he shifted. Someone who was, preferably, not a cat.

"Are you sure?"

"I don't always check the clock, but I'm almost certain."

"I won't tell Koro-sensei, but be careful. If you do shift don't leave your house. There's been reports of a poacher nearby." So, that's what she's been worried about. Poachers, aside from being horrible people who illegally kill animals, are generally humans who capture young shape shifters to sell on the black market. If a young shape shifter is caught after their first transformation, they can be raised to shift into certain creatures. The process for forcing them into these forms is gruesome, and often kills the shape shifter. The forms they are forced into a usually valuable ones. Certain forms are considered valuable on a shape shifter, and can fetch a high price on the black market. Buying shape shifters is considered slavery, and therefore punishable by law. That doesn't mean some sick, twisted people don't still do it. Poachers are those who catch, raise, and sell shape shifters. Raise is too soft a word in my opinion. They torture them.

"I heard rumors from Sugino."

"It's true, one of the main campus kids was caught."

"Really, who?"

"Don't know, but this is where we go separate ways, so see you tomorrow." She finished the conversation and sprinted off down the road towards her house. It was odd that she took off so quick. It appeared that they had managed to reach the bottom of mountain and reached the road just in front of the school campus where they did indeed go separate ways.

Nagisa continued to walk in silence. He seemed deep in thought, so I decided to bother him. I bit him on his arm just hard enough to break the skin. He yelped and nearly dropped me. I silently snickered.

"Karma, what in the world was that for?" He sounded and looked flustered from having been caught off guard.

"We're almost home, so you don't need to worry about me holding you for much longer."

What he said was true, just the next block over is where Nagisa's home was located. It was an apartment that, thankfully, allowed pets on the condition that they were 'smaller than a large sheep'. That's the exact wording used on the official documents, I had read them while I was looking at the board located in front of the building when first saw the place last night. This of course meant that shape shifters were allowed as well.

When we entered Nagisa's home a minute later, his mother wasn't yet home. Just as Okuda had guessed. I was honestly a little worried about Nagisa. I didn't want to risk him getting captured as I nearly had.

Yesterday at around five a.m., I woke up feeling off. Something told me I was in danger. As I lay silently, I heard noise. It very well could have been my parents or some person in the streets, yet still I worried. After listening further, It became increasingly apparent that the noise was coming from outside my window. My bedroom was located on the second story of the house, so that was curious.

I moved to my window. When I pulled aside the curtain, I was greeted by the sight of a person opening the window. They were wearing all black and it was dark, so I wasn't able to make out much about them. They were around 5'3", or around 1.6 meters. They carried a knife and a gun was holstered to their side, before I could say anything, I became extremely dizzy. They threw open the window and lunged for me. I managed to dodge and move into a brace position. Shape shifters are taught from a young age how to defend themselves, and Koro-sensei had insisted upon training us further this year, so I knew how to deal with this intruder. They lunged again, but this time I couldn't dodge. I was becoming more and more dizzy, so they tackled me to the ground. For a second or two I blacked out. When I came to, I was much smaller, and clearly not human. The intruder was beginning to pick themselves up. It was then that it hit me who this intruder was. They were a poacher.

Poachers will follow young shape shifters with a trained hound. Dogs and other animals can tell when a shape shifter is about to shift. When the dog alerts them, the poacher will capture the dazed shape shifter and take them away. Taking control of my body, I ran as fast as I could towards the window. I leaped toward it, but was pulled back by my tail. I wriggled out of their grip and leapt towards the open window. This time I made it. I jumped out without hesitation, but I could already feel the form slipping away. At this point, I had already figured out that I was a cat. Focusing on the intangible feeling that told me I had shifted I tried to hold it. But I couldn't. I found myself turned back to a human less than a second after I hit the ground. I was lucky it hadn't happened even a second earlier. I took off running towards the street. The notion that I should scream for help was somewhere in the back of my mind. Under normal conditions I would have looked back and tried to take the poacher on, but I didn't. In the thirty seconds or so I had been a cat, I had learned something about this poacher. They were a shape shifter as well.

It had been their smell. Something had been off about it and had told me instinctively what they were. I doubted I could take them on if they could transform into a bear, rattle snake, or other predator. Too soon for my taste, I could hear something chasing me. It was running much too fast and had paws, so there was no chance of it being a human. In a split second decision, I focused on how it had felt to be a cat and willed myself back to a cat. This time, I didn't black out instead it felt like when you realise an illusion for what it really is. I dashed for a random house and wedged myself underneath it. As I crawled into the dark beneath the porch, I risked a glance back. A black bear was clawing at the porch. The lights from the house came on, and someone stepped out. At hearing the person scream, the poacher turned and ran away. Once they were out of sight, I crawled out from underneath the house. The person was still on the porch. At a quick glance, I recognized it as Okuda from school. I stayed out of sight and headed back towards my house. I just hoped the poacher hadn't stuck around.

When I returned, I found the lights on. My parents had most likely gotten up to investigate the thump from me being tackled. There was no chance of getting back to my room through my window. So instead I went to the front door, and started scratching at it. My voice, which had been seemingly stolen while I was being attacked, had returned. I began to yowl. When the door opened I looked up expectantly. My mother looked down, clearly confused. I tried to release the cat form, but with a sinking feeling, it became apparent I couldn't. As she stared at me, a look of recognition dawned on her face. She half screamed my name as she called my father. She called the police on the fact that I was outside of the house, and so was a black van with a dog barking in it.

The police had quickly arrived and addressed the situation as a poacher. They confirmed that I would be stuck for a few days as well. As if I didn't already know that. By the time they finished inspecting everything, collecting evidence, and questioning people, it was 07:00. It was then that my parents took me to the school. After talking to the principal, I was given to my class, the E-class, who were located off of the main campus. I noticed when I entered the classroom in my mother's hands, that Okuda looked startled. My parents didn't tell the class about the poacher, but Koro-sensei already seemed to know.

I ended up going home with Nagisa. Thus I found myself sitting on a chair at a small table while Nagisa finished his homework. If I'm being honest, Nagisa can take care of himself, but I still found myself worrying about his safety.

 **Well that certainly told a lot about what happened to Karma. Well, till I post the next chapter, goodbye!**

 _Published: 9 Sep. 2017_

 _Word Count: 1500+_

May be missing edits.

 **Onward I write, through the third chapter!**

Chapter 3

Nagisa

I began to feel a bit uncomfortable with Karma just staring at me as I finished up the homework from school.

"You better not be stealing answers from me for when you have to do the make up work." I spoke, breaking the silence. I only had one more math problem left to complete.

He just continued to stare at me. I finished the last problem and checked the clock. 17:00. I found it odd that my mother wasn't home yet. Figuring she was just working late, I grabbed a bowl of cereal and some chicken from last night's dinner. We didn't have cat food, so Karma would have to live with chicken. I think he'd prefer meat over cat food anyway.

I walked into the living room with Karma hot on my heels, clearly hungry. After setting the food down, I grabbed a book from the shelf. I read the book to about half-way through before I got up again. I placed my bowl and Karma's plate on the kitchen counter to clean later. The clock read 19:00. I became more worried now that my mother still hadn't come home.

Reclining on the couch, I picked back up the book and continued reading. Karma climbed onto my chest, quickly falling asleep. This time I didn't complain. I mindlessly brushed my spare hand through his fur, causing him to purr. His purring startled me, it was just so soft and kind, the opposite of how Karma usually acts. He didn't seem to notice my staring. I continued reading with a soft smile on my face.

I finished the book, setting it down. I paused before nudging Karma, not really wanting to bother his slumber, but needing to. He stretched and jumped off of me sleepily. I moved from the couch to my room without looking at the clock. Karma followed me. I changed into pyjamas before turning off the lamp on my nightstand. Karma jumped on my chest, and this time I didn't mind. I briefly thought I heard the front door open and close before time slipped away into sleep.

 _There was a dull thud as I found myself pushed to the dark floor. I could see my small form crumple into a ball in fear of whatever had pushed me. I knew I should feel scared but instead an intense anger overwhelmed me. I tried to push and kick, but I couldn't. I tried to scream, but it felt like my throat had pulled itself taught and refused move to create a shout. Eventually I made a small hoarse squeaking sound._

 _The already intense anger grew in strength, yet I remained unable to do anything. Then I felt something warm grab me from behind. I had switched back to a first person point of view. I knew instinctively that it was Karma and he meant me no harm. My anger dissipated and changed to a strange obsession._

 _I could feel one of his arms wrapped around my waist while the other was wound around my chest. His chin rested on my shoulder while his nose was buried in my neck. There was a hissing sound and what looked like a painting of Karma holding something appeared._

 _I found myself sitting in a chair on a balcony overlooking a nice garden. Karma was there again, leaning against the railing and smiling. He opened his mouth to say something._

" _Y-"_ A loud screeching beep interrupted whatever it was that Karma was going to say. I stretched out my body before opening my eyes to stare at the alarm clock. It was 05:55. My hand reached out and hit the snooze button. It was then that I heard heavy rain on the window and roof.

I muttered out, "Great. Now I have to walk through the rain."

As I stood up and moved Karma off of me, not in that order, there was a knock on my door. The person at the door opened it without waiting for a response.

"Nagisa, school has been cancelled today." It was my mother's voice that spoke.

"Why?"

"The rain caused too much flooding. I'll still be going to work though, so be careful. Don't leave the house and don't let your friend leave either." With that, she left. When I had brought Karma home after my mother hadn't seemed to care all that much, only reminding me to keep an eye on him. She had seemed distracted at the time as well.

I moved to the bathroom to take a shower and prepare for the day, even if I didn't have school. I stumbled into the kitchen. For some reason, I was especially tired today. Karma seemed tired as well. I had cereal again and gave Karma some leftover chicken. Again. I watched the news while eating to pass the time. All the reports were about flooding and closed schools, as my mother had mentioned.

The day went by in a blur of half-asleep incomplete thoughts. Yet I never fell asleep. Whenever my mind started to blur into true sleep, I was jolted awake with vivid thoughts of my dream. It was strange that I was able to recall the dream so well, but I was too tired to focus on it for long. Before I knew it, it was 17:22.

I got up to grab some food for Karma and me, the former who was sleeping at the foot of the couch. When I returned, Karma was looking at me expectantly. When I sat down, Karma jumped onto my lap to eat. I barely registered his presence. The news channel was still on and still reporting on flooding, only now the flooding was worse. A flicker of worry passed through me as I thought of my mother.

The news show was abruptly cut off, along with the lights and anything else that required electricity to run. The power had gone out. I sighed in frustration while Karma looked around curiously. The only thing we could do now was to wait.

After a half-hour of waiting, I began to question if you could play a card game with a cat. I doubted that, but decided to talk to Karma even though he couldn't respond.

"Have you ever loved someone, Karma?" To be honest, I had no idea where that question question came from, but I asked it anyway. Karma jolted and stared at me.

"Everybody seems so obsessed with love, but I don't think I've actually felt love for someone."

"Then again I don't actually know what love feels like. Does it feel the same for everybody? If so, what does it feel like? I sound like a test paper asking an English question. I don't even know why I'm talking about this. I think I'll change the subject now." Towards the end of my sentence, my voice broke and I began to cry. I stopped and jerked upright. What in the hell was that. I've never had any qualms with my lack of a love life, so why had I suddenly acted so upset. Karma was meowing loudly and kneading my chest. I looked down into his feline eyes that were filled with concern.

"I...I'm sorry. I don't know what that was about." Karma stopped meowing, but still looked up at me worriedly. I turned my head to look at the blank t.v. As I stared at my dark reflection which stared back at me, I swore for a second Karma was standing as a human just behind me. I blinked and the image was gone. I closed my eyes and picked out pictures in the swirling dark. At one point there was a ghastly face, then a bird, then a bear, and even a cat. I lost my mind in the swirling dark for an unknown length of time.

 **This might be a bit of an abrupt cut off, but I wanted to save what happens next for a chapter all itself. Till then, goodbye!**

 _Published: 17 Sep. 2017_

 _Word Count: 1000+_

May be missing edits.

 **Sorry for the wait! I'll explain a bit at the ending note.**

What woke me up was the bright light and a high pitched screeching noise from the t.v. Evidently, it woke Karma as well. Blinking my eyes slowly I recognized that the power must have returned. It would take some time till the box would function once again, so I settled on turning it off, ending the sound. Karma seemed pleased that the noise, which no doubt had hurt his sensitive feline hearing, was now ended. As I gained more and more awareness with my returning conscience, it became apparent that, 1) It was still raining, 2) It was dark out, and 3) It was cold, very cold. I shivered as I moved to a sitting position. The clock on the wall read 01:00. That made me pause. Shouldn't Karma be changing back sometime today? That would be interesting.

I moved to the kitchen without bothering to turn on the lights. I made myself coffee and cereal. I didn't normally drink coffee, but something told me I didn't want to go back to sleep. We were out of chicken for Karma, but there was some hamburger from a few dinners ago. Karma seemed to like it.

 **This was the unfinished chapter four which I never liked.**


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